what’s next?

2. overview the problem DesignGov’s Lost in Translation report found that businesses need to be consulted in flexible ways that give them the opportunity to share their experience and views in a convenient way. Public servants need to access the views and experiences of a variety of businesses at different stages of policy and program development, and especially so that changes do not unnecessarily make life more difficult for business people. the idea: OneConsultation To solve the problem, the report recommended establishing OneConsultation as a single place for conducting consultations, supplemented by a suite of consultation and engagement tools and options to suit a variety of stakeholder and agency needs. co-designing the solution On 11 November 2013, DesignGov facilitated workshops with public servants, business and intermediary representatives to co-design solutions. the solutions The co-design workshops developed four concepts (concrete possible OneConsultation models) to solve to the problem. Concept 1: Australians All Provision of a consultation platform that enables the community to initiate consultation processes, ideas and issues that are important to them. The public service is alerted to community concerns so that they can consider the impacts, correctly identify stakeholders, and obtain the shared knowledge of a wider range of stakeholders. Concept 2: Communities of Expertise Sharing my insights so that as a policy officer I can understand how people are interacting with government services so that I can develop better policy. Concept 3: Expert Connect An online home for cross-disciplinary or cross-portfolio discussion among scientists, policy makers and specialist end-users to share information and experience in order to drive innovation. Concept 4: Consult Gateway A gallery of ideas, submissions and consultations/policy developments accessible to all. what’s next? The Department of Industry will prototype the Australians All concept within its Resources Division on a small scale during 2014 with the view of increasing the scale overtime. The contact officer is Alex Roberts – available at alex.roberts@industry.gov.au. more detail inside: The co-design workshop…………………. 3 Concept 1: Australians All………………………………5 Concept 2: Communities of Expertise………..………. 6 Concept 3: Expert Connect…………………………….. 7 Concept 4: Consult Gateway…………………………… 8 Ideas catalogue..…………………………… 9 Background: The problem………………... 10 Background: The initial idea………………11

3. 11 NOVEMBER 2013 Co-design workshop design tool 1: Use scenarios The first activity was to brainstorm, in groups of 3-4, the aims OneConsultation should achieve. Participants then brainstormed considerations in developing OneConsultation – namely, thinking about past consultation initiatives that had the same aims and noting what worked and what didn’t. The groups drew on these to design Use Scenarios. Use Scenarios create the structure and focus to assist participants in designing what features OneConsultation would need to have to meet the brainstormed aims and take into account the brainstormed considerations. instructions for use – how to do a use scenario A google search for ‘use scenario’ will yield links to sites that explain how to do a use scenario. See for example: http://graphics.cs.columbia.edu/courses/csw4170/useScenariosAndPersonas.htm. You can find further links to methods and tools to help do a user scenario in the DesignGov Compendium (see the DesignGov website). the participants Five DesignGov staff, facilitating 15 participants; representatives from Holocentric, DelibAustralia, Double Arrow, Office of the Small Business Commissioner, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Migration Institute of Australia, IP Australia, the Department of the Environment and the Department of Industry 3

4. 11 NOVEMBER 2013 Co-design workshop design tool 2: Concept design Concept design is an iterative design process to assist participants to design how OneConsultation would work. To complete the tasks, participants drew on the features identified in the use scenarios and had one hour and fifteen minutes to design their concept in groups of 2-5. Concept design follows a four step process: 1 – Develop a concept (a concrete model of what OneConsultation should be) 2 – Critique and refine 3 – Share and refine 4 – Document and pitch. instructions for use how to do you own concept design This concept design is just one method to make policy and program ideas into concrete, tangible models to be prototyped and refined. To find other ways to design concepts, simply search ‘concept design’ on googlewhere you can easily find examples such as this: http://www.digital-web.com/articles/concept_design_tools/. Also, refer to the DesignGov compendium on the DesignGov website for more design methods and tools to help design concepts. 4

5. DESIGN CONCEPT 1 Australians All FEEDBACK Australians All A business and citizen consultation platform where individuals and groups can initiate issues and ideas for joint problem solving. The public service is alerted to community concerns so that they can consider the impacts, correctly identify stakeholders, and obtain the shared knowledge of a wider range of stakeholders. co-designed/ co-delivered solutions Public Servants AUSTRALIANS ALL Citizens, Businesses, Intermediaries, & Communities the value • Provides lower threshold of entry to raise issues and ideas as well as broadens the base in finding and co-delivering solutions • Enhances more established consultation processes contribution to policy development INFORM/DISCUSS • through using the service • businesses/citizens/intermediaries can: • raise, create and nominate issues and ideas for discussion • be heard and engage meaningfully • co-design and co-deliver solutions • public servants can: • access a menu of options, for examples see http://www.involve.org.uk/blog/2005/12/12/people-and-participation/ • be alerted to community concerns in order to tap into community wisdom • consider and understand impact • identify new stakeholders for co-delivery • why do it? • ‘communities’ can resolve or explore matters that could make a difference • public sector can be alerted to the concerns of citizens, businesses and communities • provides an educational platform • integrates/enhances existing consultation processes • allows citizens to meaningfully consult • measuring success • number of ideas and ideas actioned • traffic and registrations • risks • communities don’t participate or trust that they are being heard • government does not listen • risk mitigation • get the highest level of government involved • link to state and local jurisdictions (COAG) • show that government is listening and acting upon the information. • transparency - keep everyone up to date about progress. • integrate with other platforms through open APIs • review similar platforms used by governments in other countries 5 Voted most promising idea at the co-design workshop

6. DESIGN CONCEPT 2 Better Informed Consultation (BIC) BIC: Better Informed Consultation A digital service/ site that a) signposts what consultation is being carried out and points users there b) enables people to raise issues with the right departments c) shows what people are talking about through issue analysis d) educates public servants about consultation approaches e) keeps people up-to date about policy developments (closes feedback loop). Citizens, Businesses & Intermediaries FEEDBACK/REQUEST awareness of consultations • why do it? • business, intermediaries and citizens can become aware of current and future consultations in a centralised place • Enable more effective and efficient participation in consultation • tracking of consultation progress • improvement of consultation practices • effective communication about policy updates and consultations • measuring success • measure improvements in consultation practice of public service users • number of users and traffic visibility about policy development the value BETTER INFORMED CONSULTATION • Enables effective participation • Enables consultation capability building for public sector employees contribution to policy development • through using the service • businesses/citizens/intermediaries can: • raise, create and nominate issues and ideas for discussion • be heard and contribute meaningfully • see updates relating to consultation/policy to help people know what’s going on (feedback loop) • see latest issues/consultation and be able to effectively search for issues of interest • public servants can: • access a menu of options, for examples see http://www.involve.org.uk/blog/2005/12/12/people-and-participation/ • post current and future consultations raise issues that matter • risks • no-one uses it • inadequately resourced • not kept up to date • risk mitigation • tack this onto something that already exists (and is already used) • get independents to do issue analysis • effective communication of issues data within government – show its value and applicability • Ensure that it is sufficiently resourced INFORM Public Servants • post summaries about update to policy/consultations to keep people in the loop 6

7. DESIGN CONCEPT 3 Expert Connect Expert Connect An online home for cross-disciplinary or cross-portfolio discussion among scientists, policy makers and specialist end-users to share information and experience in order to drive innovation. • through using the service • experts/academic/researchers can: • share expertise in an accessible way • contribute to policy decision making • businesses & citizens can: • access policy-related expert information • access information to inform choices • public servants can: • share information and experiences • gain access to trustworthy information in an accessible way • identify specialists to consult/engage with • why do it? • citizens and businesses feel better understood by government as a whole • better targeting of issues • new portal for linking their clients to government information • focused feedback • public sector understanding and communicating with stakeholders more quickly and efficiently • visibility of policy development activities • measuring success • number of user registrations & traffic • number of submissions to consultations the value • Shows what consultation is occurring and where/by whom • Connects policy, science and decision-making in government with lived experience • Government can find experts and gain access to accessible expert advice • risks • remaining open across tiers of government where policy and expertise seem to contradict • managing expectations (e.g. resourcing) • immature communities • lack of stable policy/political sensitivity • platform hi-jacked by special interest groups • risk mitigation • clarity of purpose • discussion moderators / ‘gardeners’ • open to all participants • use of APIs so it’s not technology constrained FEEDBACK/REQUEST awareness of consultations Public Servants visibility about policy development Citizens, Businesses & Intermediaries EXPERT CONNECT trustworthy expertise Experts - academics & researchers inform policy development INFORM 7

8. DESIGN CONCEPT 4 Consult Gateway • why do it? • assists government to meaningfully engage with others • use of feedback to build stronger ideas • affected parties can give real-world perspectives • allows development of ideas based on multiple sources of evidence • broad engagement in the policy development process. • measuring success • number of user registrations • site traffic • number of submissions to consultations • risks • how do you reach people not online? • how to deal with high volume of received feedback? • loss of credibility of information • need to balance moderation with openness Consult Gateway A gallery of ideas, submissions and consultations/policy developments accessible to all. Citizens, Businesses & Intermediaries the value • Enable government to meaningfully engage with citizens and businesses • Allow citizens to feel that they can contribute to policy development INFORM visibility about policy development awareness of consultation • through using the service • businesses & citizens can: • protect/enhance their interests • feel listened to and be heard • gather information to inform business and life-style decisions • search for information (via tags etc.) • be notified of relevant consultations/updates • find upcomingand past consultation information • public servants can: • be alerted to community concerns in order to tap into community wisdom • consider and understand impact • identify new stakeholders for co-delivery • access different communities of expertise • be better informed for decision-making • access a menu of options, for examples see http://www.involve.org.uk/blog/2005/12/12/people-and-participation/ CONSULT GATEWAY • risk mitigation • mandatory use for consultations initiated by government • social media integration • moderation of comments/ ‘community gardener’ – be transparent about moderation • provide identity when submitting • meta-data for searching site – multiple uses for data = provision of value • keep it simple • rely on uploads rather than posting/blogging contribution to policy development Public Servants AWARENESS / FEEDBACK 8

9. SUGGESTED QUALITIES & USE-SCENARIOS Idea Catalogue • using OneConsultation • public servants can: • see the breadth of the compliance burden on small business so they can work to reduce it • learn about current and past consultation so that duplication can be avoided • learn & apply new tools and methods for meaningful engagement • engage with a broad range of stakeholders so that consultation is comprehensive and meaningful • select the most appropriate method for communication and consultation so that deliverables can be met • collaborate across government so that cost findings can be shared and duplication avoided • utilise existing platforms so that each agency does not need to build their own (time/money) • reach stakeholders who are likely to engage/participate so that time and money is saved • be able to get past merely the ‘presenting of problems’ • using OneConsultation businesses/citizens can: • track progress of policy decisions and consultations • identify other players • influence and shape services and policies early • discover who and what is involved in a range of consultations • be alerted to relevant issues and areas relating to my business • initiate a policy issue, idea or problem area • choose to engage in multiple ways • OneConsultationshould…. • Be Timely – Allow enough time for businesses and intermediaries to respond.Enable input into policy thinking early • Be Transparent – Government needs to show they are listening and citizens need to feel as though their participation has had impact • Flexible– enable consultation/engagement to occur in multiple ways and. through multiple channels • Understandable & Accessible – use plain english and avoid jargon • Ease – make consultation engagement easier for everyone • Useful – ability to use this service for multiple purposes and by multiple agencies • Human – digital/virtual engagement needs to feel human • Open – use of APIs and existing platforms so as not to be constrained by technology. Be open to dialogue • using OneConsultation intermediaries can: • review how their submitted feedback was taken so they can report back to members • effectively represent their members’ views • Understand policy changes so they can report back to their members • contribute to consultation more easily and ensure that more voices are heard

10. THE CHALLENGE “Recognise my experience in the decision-making process” the problem Businesses perceive consultation as ‘nonsultation’ and engagement as limited “It’s hard to find where I could provide meaningful feedback. Where is the touch-point?” Meet Marilyn the business/government intermediary the context Marilyn is in her early 50s, university educated and has practitioner qualifications. She has worked in an industry association for over ten years, is committed to the members and the profession, and often works overtime. But government consultation processes can make it hard for her to engage in consultation, leaving her and the businesses she represents feeling excluded or let down. Marilyn is also time poor. She is not interested in ‘talk fests’ or consultation to validate a pre-determined view. Marilyn also gets frustrated when timeframes are too short for her to test proposals with members in order to consider their diverse, and sometimes conflicting, views. the needs to address • businesses need: • to know what consultations are planned or underway • opportunities to be heard • an understanding of opportunities to influence • intermediaries need: • time to canvas members • feedback • tighter scope • public servants need: • ability to undertake consultation seamlessly • more meaningful consultations that add value to policy and services • options for effective engagement Marilyn is a composite persona that reflects the needs of dozens of businesses and intermediaries that DesignGov interviewed during the Business and Government Interactions project. For more information, please download the report (http://tinyurl.com/designgovfindings and prospectus (http://tinyurl.com/designgovprospectus).

11. THE PROPOSITION Prototyping OneConsultation the idea OneConsultation Increased consultation options in one place We are exploring how to develop a single catalogue of business to government consultations supported by a suite of tools and templates to guide effective participation and consultation. This could be a digital service able to be accessed directly or via ‘partners’. FEEDBACK ONE CONSULTATION PLATFORM Public Servants Enabling policy development platform TARGETED Businesses & Intermediaries • the benefits • businesses benefit by: • feeling less marooned and better understood by government as a whole • better targeting of issues • intermediaries benefit by: • new portal for linking their clients to government information • focused feedback • public servants benefit by: • understanding and communicating with stakeholders more quickly and efficiently • seeing what other policy development activities are underway • how we get there • What will the prototyping of OneConsultation.gov.au be testing? • what are the better practices for engaging with industry? • what are the barriers to a more integrated approach to consulting by government? • what improvements could be made to the guidance for public servants about engagement with business stakeholders? • design principles • co-design with influencers and the impacted • aggregation to simplify • choice through menu options • digital services, not websites some of the factors to be considered in the prototyping workshops • assumptions • Are our likely users government agencies, peak and intermediaries, businesses with specific issues? • unknowns • Which technologies are available and suitable for APS environments? • organisational challenges • How does OneConsultation sit with other Government business websites? • Who has responsibility for maintaining OneConsultation.gov.au? Meaningful ability to influence policy DesignGov will be running a series of workshops aimed at further developing this concept and testing how it might work. If you would like to get involved, contact us through our email (design@design.gov.au) or phone number (02 6125 4974)